Abstracts from the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) Trainees Symposium

Abstract

On June 26, 2012, more than 30 fellows and trainees from around the world presented abstracts at the Trainees Symposium at the GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. The symposium was developed as an opportunity for trainees and fellows in Rheumatology and Dermatology to develop their research skills through presentation and discussion of their work. The topics of the poster presentations ranged widely, reflecting many aspects of GRAPPA's work streams. Subjects included comorbidities, ethnicity in Psoriatic arthritis, nail disease, screening tools, incidence and prevalence studies, and translational research. Before the meeting, senior GRAPPA members ranked the abstracts, and the top 6 were invited to discuss their finding with a 15-minute slide presentation. The others were invited to speak for 5 to 7 minutes from posters based on their findings. This year, the 6 selected to give oral presentations were: Alex Nigg (Germany), Neha Garg (USA), Deepak Jadon (UK), Mary Ann Johnson (USA), Agnes Szentpetery (Ireland) and Zahi Touma (Canada). Professor Christopher Ritchlin, M. D., M.P.H., of the University of Rochester School of Medicine (New York) founded the GRAPPA Trainees Symposium in 2008. It has been a popular addition to the GRAPPA Annual Meeting ever since, with 15 trainees participating in 2008, 19 in 2009 and increased to 32 in 2012. Here we present the abstracts submitted by these trainees and fellows in 2012.